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Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 41.2426, -87.6346

Estimated forage here is better than about 75% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (70th percentile) and lowest in spring (44th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 1.2 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.19 mi E. 1 thing to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 34th, summer 97th, fall 26th)
  • Illinois: 75th percentile (spring 44th, summer 70th, fall 61st)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 66th percentile (spring 69th, summer 53rd, fall 69th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Illinois, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 13,037 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 11,353 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 225 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 229 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 985 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 128 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Sweet Corn: insecticides used on about 44% of surveyed US acres (2024); Squash: insecticides used on about 71% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.
  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021-2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.